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Welcome to The Learning Curve, 

For all who work in schools 

Two weeks left of the school year and soon we may be able to pause to reflect. Probably not just yet though. Schools are busy, busy places and they rarely relent until everyone has left the building. 

Working in schools is, more often than not, driven by a desire to help young people and to make a difference in the lives of others. It sounds grandiose but it really is why the vast majority of us do it. As we approach the summer it is worth taking a second to think about what teachers (and all that support in schools) have achieved. The entire profession has had to adjust, unlearn and learn “on the hoof” in a way that has played out in real time and with real jeopardy. Teachers, admin, leadership have had the task of keeping education going in a time of masks, fear, emotional challenges, raging opinion, remote learning, hybrid learning, testing, vaccinating and rules and regulations that change, quite literally every week.

Schools have faced down challenges that are really quite unique.  

The cancellation of examinations has put secondary teachers in unprecedented positions of responsibility for grading where the goal posts have shifted in front of them time after time.The volume of work and expectations has, at times, been suffocating for teachers but they have done it and done it well. This is all hidden from the view of parents and students who have not seen the problems that have needed to be overcome in order to make sure that children achieve the results they deserve. 

Many many staff in Mougins School and international schools around the world have not seen their families and friends for well over a year. Their children have missed 18 months of time with grandparents, uncles, aunties and other people that enrich their  lives. That time cannot come back. Of course this is true for everyone in the community but it needs to be remembered that it is true for teachers and the staff in school. It can easily be forgotten. 

For the most part (all of us have a wobble occasionally) staff in schools have done all of the above with grace, kindness and with little complaint. 

This note is not written for sympathy or to whine about the situation. We won’t do that. It has a much simpler purpose. 

I have a request for you. 

In these last two weeks please take the time to thank a teacher, a member of the school’s admin staff or the maintenance team. It’s amazing what that word means to people and the impact it has on us. 

Have a lovely weekend everyone

James Wellings
Head of School